Explore the Arts

Boasting an artistic legacy that spans more than 200 years, Mariinsky Ballet returns with Les Saisons Russes ("The Russian Seasons"), featuring three works by Mikhail Fokine: Chopiniana, Scheherazade, and The Firebird.

"Awesome in its perfection of style, its technical power and assurance, its unanimity of spirit, and in the majestic scale of it all"--The Washington Post

"It is the combination of athleticism with lyricism and artistry that makes the company unique."--Time Magazine

For their tenth visit in a ten-year partnership with the Kennedy Center, the great Russian company Mariinsky Ballet presents Les Saisons Russes (The Russian Seasons), a collection of works by Mikhail Fokine including Chopiniana, Scheherazade, and The Firebird, all showcase pieces for the Mariinsky's principal dancers. The three ballets were among those selected by impresario Serge Diaghilev in the early 1900s to be performed by The Ballets Russes during their annual performances in Paris, "Les Saisons Russes."

A ballet of ethereal beauty, Chopiniana displays the Company's corps de ballet to stunning effect. The stylized interpretation of romantic themes and moods based on Chopin's music has also been known in the West as Les Sylphides.

A gorgeous work, Scheherazade portrays the sensual and passionate, poetic and charming imagery of the Arabian Nights. A sultan, suspicious of his wife's fidelity, leaves for a hunting trip, only to return early. Caught in the midst of a bacchanalia, the wife takes her own life and her slave lover is killed.

Exotic and mysterious, The Firebird is stunning and enchanting. Danced to Igor Stravinsky's exciting breakthrough score of 1910, the production takes characters from different Russian fairy tales and creates a fable of love, bravery, and liberation.